Wing Spar Photo/Diagram wanted
 

Was trying to explain to someone what a wing spar for a GA type aircraft is.does, looks like, how its made etc, but as I;venever seen an aircraft pulled apart to the extent where the wing spar/s are viable, I'm not sure myself.

Does anyone out there have have a photo, diagram, drawings of a spar, any GA aircraft will do, but would like a Chieftain PA31 for example would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Hi Oz:

I did a quick search on Google Images and came up with the following listings. You should be able to poke around in the many pictures and find something suitable for your discussions. There is a series descibing a homebuilt Zenair which gives some very clear views of the spar and ribs. That is located here ... http://images.google.ca/images?svnum...nair+wing+spar

The general search info is here ... http://images.google.ca/images?sourc...ar&sa=N&tab=wi

Regards,
Fog

A good link from Old Fogducker. Wingspars are fairly easy to see; the next time you're in a hangar and there's an aircraft on maintenance, ask one of the engineers to show you. Even on something as simple as a PA28, there are at least three spar inspection access panels per wing and with the wingtips off you'll get a good view of the rib structure too. Lift up the rear seat of the Cherokee to see how the wings are held on: the spar sections are at their thickest there.

Wing spars primarily carry the bending load due to lift. Thus a I cross-section usually makes sense. The upper and lower skins prevent twisting in this case.

But I've seen light ships with large aluminum tubing for the spar - it carries twisting loads and also serves as a fuel tank.

Well, not quite a G.A. aircraft.....



http://www.flightglobal.com/assets/g...px?itemid=9140

A bit out of date compared to most things you see, but a good view of Ribs nonetheless....
http://www.pittsfabric.com/fabric.htm

Try a google search for homebuilder logs, they typically have a lot of pictures included.
See http://www.rvproject.com/construction_log.html#wings as an example.
Not really a serial production design, but quite close.